Path To Becoming A CFO: Steve Sordello, SVP And CFO Emeritus At Linkedin

Steve Sordello has spent nearly three decades working for some of the most iconic technology companies in Silicon Valley. Steve brings a diverse background in strategy, operational and financial management, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate leadership. Steve has served as the CFO of LinkedIn Corporation (LNKD), the online business networking service.

During his tenure at LinkedIn, he oversaw LinkedIn’s successful IPO, scaled the company from $10M to over $8B in revenue, raised critical capital and completed multiple private and public acquisitions, including LinkedIn’s $26.2B merger with Microsoft where Steve has since continued to play a key leadership role in its success.

Prior to LinkedIn, Steve served as CFO of TiVo, Inc. (TIVO), a manufacturer of digital video recorders, where he helped drive the company to profitability. Prior to TiVo, he served as CFO at Ask Jeeves, Inc. (ASKJ), an internet search engine company where he drove the dot-com turnaround, building a high-growth, highly profitable business and was instrumental in its sale to IAC in 2005. Steve also held senior roles at Adobe Systems, Inc. (ADBE), the global leader in digital media and digital marketing solutions. At Adobe, he drove the overall planning process and worked on a number of critical projects, including driving the financial analysis behind the acquisition of Photoshop, the launch of the Creative Bundle Suite, and the product launch of Acrobat. Prior to Adobe, Steve started his career on a rotation program at Syntex Corporation, a pharmaceuticals company which was acquired by Roche Pharmaceuticals in 1994.

Steve also serves as independent director and audit committee chair at publicly traded Atlassian (TEAM), a leading provider of collaboration, development, and issue-tracking software, as an independent director at publicly traded Compass (COMP), a real estate technology company, and as a non-profit board member, trustee, and audit committee chair at Santa Clara University. Steve also served as an independent director and audit committee chair at publicly traded Cloudera (CLDR) up to its merger with Hortonworks in 2019.

Raised in the Bay Area, Steve grew up working amid his parent’s apricot, prune, and walnut orchards.

Jeff Epstein is an Operating Partner in the Silicon Valley office, where he leads Bessemer’s CFO Advisory Board and helps portfolio company CEOs and CFOs share best practices. He is the former Executive Vice President and CFO at Oracle, one of the world’s largest and most profitable technology companies, with a market value of over $150B. Prior to joining Oracle, Jeff served as CFO at several public and private companies, including DoubleClick (sold to Google), King World Productions (sold to CBS), and Nielsen’s Media Measurement and Information Group. Earlier in his career, he was an investment banker at The First Boston Corporation. He specializes in B2B software, marketplaces, and AI software. Jeff is Co-CEO at Apex Technology, a SPAC which has announced a merger with AvePoint. Each winter, Jeff co-teaches the Lean Launchpad class at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Engineering. He serves on the boards of directors at Kaiser Permanente, Twilio, Poshmark, Shutterstock, and several private companies. Jeff served on the board of directors at Booking Holdings/Priceline for 16 years as its market value grew from $1B to $80B. He holds an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar, and a BA from Yale College, where he graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.